...; for prosperity doth best discover vice, but adversity doth best discover virtue. XVI. OP ATHEISM. I had rather believe all the fables in the Legend, and the Talnv'd, and the Alcoran, than that this universal frame is ' without a mind And therefore God never...

...basest degradation to which the faculties and dignity of human nature can be reduced. PALEY. ATHEISM. I HAD rather believe all the fables in the Legend,...without a mind. And, therefore, God never wrought miracle to convince atheism, because his ordinary works convince it. It is true that a little philosophy...

...conclusions upon the real and settled faith of Lord Bacon. Bacorr perhaps was sincere, when he said, ' I had rather believe all the fables in the Legend,...than that this universal frame is without a mind.' But to many parts of the paradoxes we may apply his remark upon the fool, who .ta'ui in his heart,...

...conclusions upon the real and settled faith of Lord Bacon. Bacon perhaps was sincere, when he said, ' I had rather believe all the fables in the Legend,...than that this universal frame is without a mind.' But to many parts of the paradoxes we may apply his remark upon the fool, -who said in his heart, but...

...magnify the Legend, a book sure of little credit with him when he thus began one of his Essays : ' I had rather believe all the fables in the Legend,...Alcoran, than that this universal Frame is without a mmd.*"§ * Juxta Exemplar Londini Impressum. Parisiis Typis Petrj Mettayer Typographi Régi MDCXXIV....

...foundation in the nature of man. When the greatest of modern philosophers declares, that ' he would rather believe all the fables in the Legend, and the...than that this universal frame is without a mind,'* he has expressed the same feeling, which, in all ages and nations, has led good men, unaccustomed to...

...great philosopher informs us in Essay xvii. " I had rather believe all the follies in the Legends, the Talmud, and the Alcoran, than that this universal frame is without a mind." The remarks of Fabricius upon Plutarch are very judicious : Sane atheismum quemlibet in se superstitione...

...the voluminous and no\y neglected erudition displayed by Cudworth in defence of the same argument " I had rather believe all the fables in the Legend,...Alcoran, than that this universal frame is without a mind ! It is trae that a little philosophy inclineth man's mind to atheism ; but depth in philosophy bringeth...

...and the heart.* And it was in this manner, I apprehend, that Lord Bacon felt, when he said that He " had rather believe all the fables in the Legend, and...than that this universal frame is without a mind." Or, in other words, that there was no proposition, how absurd soever, to which he could not more easily...

...man. When the greatest of modern philosophers (Lord Bacon, in his Essays) declares, that ' he would rather believe all the fables in the legend, and the...Alcoran, than that this universal frame is without a mind ;' he has expressed the same feeling, which, in all ages and nations, has led good men, unaccustomed...